Ukrainian Prime Minister: Nord Stream 2 is Russia's weapon in war against Europe
On Sunday, the press service of the Ministers Cabinet reported that Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman described the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project in Russia as a subtle form of war against Europe.
"Nord Stream 2 is a form of disguised war against Europe. We know what it is like to be dependent on Russia energetically and politically. We know how dangerous it is, from our own experience. Therefore, we now view this project as one of Russia's geopolitical weapons," said Groysman in an interview with Die Welt.
He noted that preserving Ukraine’s status as the priority gas transit option is of great importance for the security and political stability of all of Europe. Groysman also added, "We offered our partners in the West to manage our gas transportation system together. Its capacity is 140 billion cubic meters. Our gas storages allow us to store reserves for up to 1000 days. It has great potential."
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline across the Baltic Sea has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. The company operating the pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG reported that more than 200 kilometers of the offshore section of the pipeline have already been built.
The Nord Stream 2 gas transportation corridor is meant to transport about 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually from the Russian Federation through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Opponents of the project, including Poland, the Baltic countries, Ukraine, Moldova, the United States and Denmark, argue that Nord Stream 2 will increase the EU’s dependence on Gazprom, which already supplies about a third of the gas to the EU.